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Trade Wars
Apple Commits $30 Billion To Broadcom For U.S. Chipmaking Push
Apple said it’s expanding its partnership with chipmaker Broadcom in a multi-year deal expected to exceed $30 billion, marking the iPhone maker’s largest U.S. manufacturing commitment to date. The agreement, announced by Apple on Wednesday, will lead to the production of more than 15 billion U.S.-made chips and includes a $1.5 billion expansion of Broadcom’s facility in Fort Collins, Colorado. Apple didn’t provide a timeline for when the new capacity will come online.
Broadcom has long supplied Apple with connectivity components, but the new agreement deepens that relationship around U.S.-made custom silicon. Apple said Broadcom will make wireless components used to help devices connect to cellular, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth networks. Tim Cook, Apple’s outgoing CEO said the components built in Fort Collins are “essential” to the performance and connectivity Apple customers expect, and he thanked President Donald Trump and his administration for supporting the project. Broadcom CEO Hock Tan said Apple’s commitment will help the chipmaker expand its manufacturing footprint in Fort Collins.
Read more at CNBC
Feds Host Defense Industrial Base Accelerator Event August 25-27 in Philadelphia
The Defense Industrial Base Accelerator (DIBX) is the primary Department of War event connecting national security startups, investors, and defense leaders. The 2026 event takes place from August 25–27 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, featuring a live $25M pitch competition and supply chain workshops.The accelerator focuses on solving supply chain bottlenecks and driving new technology.
The event highlights three critical national security areas:
- Strategic and Critical Minerals: Finding secure materials for hardware.
- Expeditionary Manufacturing of Electronics: Quick and flexible computer-part production in the field.
- Fuel Distribution: Delivering energy safely to remote or combat locations.
The three-day program includes facilitated direct 1-on-1 meetings with Pentagon officials and private investors. Attendees can also join the Solutions Proving Ground, an interactive space where founders and government requirement owners troubleshoot manufacturing issues in real time.
Read more and secure your spot at the DIB Accelerator 2026 Page or the ATI Events Portal.
Nationwide Shortage Of Skilled Workers Threatens US Semiconductor Plant Construction
A growing shortage of skilled technicians, engineers, and construction workers is threatening to delay semiconductor fab construction across the country, according to projections from the Semiconductor Industry Association and Oxford Economics. Of the roughly 115,000 new jobs the industry needs filled by 2030, about 67,000 may go unfilled. That’s more than half the workforce the entire initiative depends on.
The 67,000 unfilled jobs projected by 2030 represent the single biggest variable between the CHIPS Act delivering on its promise and becoming an expensive lesson in planning. Partnerships between chipmakers, community colleges, and apprenticeship programs have been launched to address the gap. By mid-2026, though, these initiatives were still struggling to produce graduates at the scale required.
Read more at Crypto Briefing
Etihad Nearing Deal To Order 10 Boeing 787 Jets, Sources Say
Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways is nearing a deal to order 10 Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab 787 wide-body jets, with an announcement expected as early as this month's Farnborough Airshow, industry sources said on Wednesday. Etihad and Boeing declined comment. The sources cautioned that a deal could not be guaranteed as negotiations continue in the run-up to the July 20-24 event in Britain.
Etihad CEO Antonoaldo Neves told Reuters last month that the airline was considering ordering a double-digit number of wide-body planes, declining to specify further. Etihad is restoring flights after making cuts in March as the U.S.-Israeli war on Iranraised fuel prices. Europe's Airbus said earlier that Middle East airlines were recovering strongly amid the region's fragile ceasefire, with Gulf hubs returning toward normal traffic volumes.
Read more at Reuters
Why Smucker’s $5 Billion Bet on the Twinkie Flopped
In 2024, Mark Smucker, chief executive of food giant J.M. Smucker, took the stage at an industry conference and bit into a golden, creamy Twinkie. “Tastes like growth,” he said. His company had just acquired Hostess, the maker of Twinkies, in a $5 billion deal and it seemed like a coup. The Covid-19 pandemic had supercharged America’s snacking habit: Some 70% of consumers were eating at least two per day, Smucker said. Buying the owner of Ding Dongs and Donettes gave the jam-and-jelly maker entry into a $65 billion market for snacks. Smucker had beat out other suitors for Hostess, most notably General Mills. Three years later, the deal isn’t tasting quite so sweet.
Some problems Smucker is facing are bedeviling other food makers. Snacking slowed as people cut discretionary spending, and weight-loss drugs and the “Make America Healthy Again” movement gained traction. U.S. snack sales by units are down 4% in the past four years, according to data from market-research firm NIQ. Sales of sweet snacks, generally, have dropped 17%, the data showed. But some are of the company’s own making. Hostess donuts and cupcakes, it turned out, are surprisingly unlike Smucker jams, peanut butter and coffee. When it folded Hostess into its business, Smucker weakened key Hostess operating strengths tied to distribution and sales, several former and current executives and employees say.
Read more at the WSJ
Food Giants Defeat Lawsuit Calling Ultraprocessed Products Addictive
A judge permanently dismissed a lawsuit alleging Kraft-Heinz, PepsiCo and other food giants failed to warn consumers of the risks associated with ultraprocessed products. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled plaintiff Brian Martinez could not definitively prove that packaged food products were the reason for his type 2 diabetes and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Martinez had amended his lawsuit, initially filed in December 2024, to include more details about his ultraprocessed food consumption after another judge dismissed an initial complaint last year for being “woefully deficient.” The latest ruling prevents him from amending the lawsuit again.
The correlation between the rise in UPFs and the rise in childhood diseases like Type 2 Diabetes does not amount to causation in the plaintiff’s individual circumstances, the court ruled. In the dismissal, the judge wrote that the plaintiff “raises serious concerns about the UPF industry and its effects on children’s health,” but the law does not allow for courts to hold an entire industry liable. The National Association Manufacturers celebrated the Pennsylvania ruling, calling the case “a misguided effort to weaponize the tort system against food and beverage manufacturers.”
Read more at Food Dive
Blue Origin Valued At $130 Billion In First Public Fundraising Round
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is raising about $10 billion, in its first outside funding round that will value the rocket company at $130 billion, sources told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin. Bezos is set to contribute $2 billion into the round, along with about $4 billion from hedge fund Coatue Management, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the details are private. Coatue Management, a big asset manager, is expected to lead the round with a $4 billion commitment, the report said, adding that Bezos is set to contribute an additional $2 billion.
SpaceX, with operations spanning rockets, satellites and AI, secured an about $1.75 trillion valuation in its public market debut, after raising about $86 billion in the world's largest IPO following years of fundraising to finance Elon Musk's AI and space ambitions. Founded by Bezos in September 2000, about 18 months before Musk started SpaceX, Blue Origin has largely been funded by the Amazon founder. It has secured multibillion-dollar NASA and U.S. Space Force contracts, including work on the Artemis lunar program and national security launches, but still trails SpaceX by a wide margin in launch cadence and revenue.
Read more at CNBC
Airbus, MTU Detail Hydrogen Fuel Cell JV Plan
Airbus and MTU Aero Engines will launch a new joint venture (JV) to develop and commercialise a hydrogen fuel cell electric aircraft engine, with operations expected to begin next year. The new non-binding agreement follows on from a 2025 memorandum of understanding (MOU), with the aircraft maker and engine manufacturer planning to combine their engineering and manufacturing competencies. The JV would look to develop, design, test, and certify fuel cell propulsion systems for aircraft on an undisclosed time scale.
Aside from concerns about the energy efficiency of using hydrogen as a fuel, the high volume storage needs of the gas could require an entire reworking of existing airframes. Concerns have also been raised around the ground logistics of fuel supply to and dispensing at airports. In the near-term, airlines, governments, and aviation bodies remain focused on sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), with mandates and regulations spreading globally.
Read more at Gas World
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